The Balinese Room was a famous

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a Gulf Coast of the United States, coastal resort town, resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island (Texas), Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a pop ...

, United States built on a pier stretching 600 feet (183 m) from the Galveston Seawall over the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. For decades a dance hall and illegal

casino A casino is a facility for gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shops, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos also host live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, conce ...

, the Balinese Room was remodeled and reopened in 2001 without a casino. During the early morning hours of September 13, 2008, the structure was destroyed by

Hurricane Ike Hurricane Ike () was a powerful tropical cyclone that swept through portions of the Greater Antilles and Northern America in September 2008, wreaking havoc on infrastructure and agriculture, particularly in Cuba and Texas. Ike took a sim ...

. Operated by Sicilian barbers-turned- bootleggers Sam and Rosario Maceo, the Balinese Room (also known as Maceo's Grotto) was an elite spot in the 1930s and 1940s (Galveston's '' open era''), featuring entertainment by

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

, George Burns, the

Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chi ...

and other top acts of the day. Patrons of the private club included

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...

, Sophie Tucker and wealthy oil barons from nearby

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. In 1997, it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The Balinese is featured in pop culture; Rock group

ZZ Top ZZ Top is an American rock band formed in Houston, Texas, in 1969. For almost 56 years, it consisted of vocalist-guitarist Billy Gibbons, drummer Frank Beard (musician), Frank Beard, and bassist-vocalist Dusty Hill prior to his death in 2021. ZZ ...

wrote and performed a song about the club called, "Balinese".

History

The Maceos took over "Chop Suey", a small restaurant at the intersection of 21st Street and Seawall Boulevard, and in 1929 they opened "Maceo's Grotto" at that location. It was one of many entertainment venues that popped up along the Galveston Seawall around that time (along with bathhouses and dance clubs, some of which were illegal casinos). In 1932, the "Grotto" was remodeled into a Chinese restaurant called "Sui Jen" (pronounced Swee Rin), and a 200-foot pier stretching out over the Gulf was added to the building. The pier location, across 21st Street from the Galvez, made the restaurant/club an easy walk for those Galveston visitors who preferred to stay in one of the city's most exclusive hotels. The Oriental-sounding name was changed to the more exotic sounding Balinese Room in 1942, after the Japanese attack on

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

on December 7, 1941, and the decor was modified accordingly. The pier was also expanded to 600 feet. The Balinese Room's private back room was equipped with the most modern gaming (gambling) equipment, and the Maceos' advertisements invited high rollers to "Come Down and Play on Galveston Island." During this period it also became Balinese Room lore that head bartender Santos Cruz "invented" the

Margarita A margarita is a cocktail consisting of tequila, triple sec, and lime juice. Some margarita recipes include simple syrup as well and are often served with salt on the rim of the glass. Margaritas can be served either shaken with ice (on the rock ...

for singer

Peggy Lee Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local r ...

in 1948. He supposedly named it after the Spanish version of her name, Margarita, and it's been a hit ever since. However, there is an account from 1936 of Iowa newspaper editor James Graham finding such a cocktail in Tijuana, years before any of the other margarita "creation myths". The club's illegal gambling made it a hub of mob activity. It was well known that the casino, at the far end of the pier, was operating in violation of the law. But the Maceos had many allies in the local government and on the police force, so charges were never filed. The sheriff of Galveston County at the time, when called before the Texas Legislature to testify about why the club remained open, replied that he wasn't a member of the private club so he couldn't get in. In 1956, Will Wilson was elected as Texas Attorney General after campaigning to "close down Galveston" and its illegal casinos using the Texas Rangers. The Rangers set up shop in a hotel near the club, and raided the casino often. But their efforts were thwarted by the length of the pier, known as the "Rangers Run". By the time they ran down to the tail end of the long, narrow club, tables, cards and chips had disappeared into secret wall and floor pockets. The band often would strike up the song " The Eyes of Texas" upon their arrival. Balinese-room

Later on, the Rangers attempted to disrupt the business through nonstop surveillance – they simply sat in the casino all day, every day. Customers, intimidated by the Rangers' presence, were less frequent and business suffered. The club nevertheless stayed open. The Rangers finally launched an undercover operation. Ranger Clint Peoples managed to pose as a customer and was admitted to the club and witnessed the gambling. His work coordinated with a raid enabled the gambling equipment in the club to be seized. The club finally closed its doors on May 30, 1957. In 1961, Hurricane Carla damaged the structure. Many of the piers that supported the structure had been washed away, and over following years, the building continued to decay. In the 1970s the Balinese Room was purchased and reopened by oil tycoon Johnny Mitchell, who turned the casino into a dinner club and disco. Many celebrities appeared at the Club during these years. After Mitchell died in 1996, the Balinese Room and its pier eventually became the property of the State of

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. A local attorney, Scott Arnold, took out a 60-year lease on the pier, and in 2001, reopened the Balinese Room for business. In addition to the Balinese Room itself, which was used for live music, parties, and weekend public dining, the pier had a salon, retail shops and a massage therapy room with a glass floor. Much of the original Balinese structure and decor had been either modified or destroyed over the years, but the South Seas interior decor of the large ballroom survived and was restored to match its 1940s appearance. The hallway of the long pier was lined with autographed photos of past performers and other memorabilia. GalvestonBalinesePreIke

Destruction

approached Galveston on Friday, September 12, 2008, the

storm surge A storm surge, storm flood, tidal surge, or storm tide is a coastal flood or tsunami-like phenomenon of rising water commonly associated with low-pressure weather systems, such as cyclones. It is measured as the rise in water level above the ...

raised the water level to a point where waves were occasionally topping the Galveston Seawall, sending water and debris onto Seawall Boulevard. BalineseRoomPostIkePaul

Later that night and early Saturday morning,

barreled ashore, with the eye of the storm tracking into Galveston Bay. Although the pier was higher than the seawall, Ike's storm surge, waves, and wind were more than the 79-year-old structure could handle. After having survived hurricanes Carla, Alicia, and numerous smaller storms, the famous old club was destroyed. Only plywood, rubble, metal and the famed red door were left after the hurricane passed through.

In popular culture

The Balinese Room is celebrated in a 1975

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

by the band

. The 1989 film '' Night Game'' featured the Balinese Room as a filming location. The 1993 film '' Dazed and Confused'' played an excerpt of the aforementioned ZZ Top song "Balinese".

References

External links

Balinese Room official site
* "Summer Fun".

'. Retrieved Jul. 20, 2005.
Balinese Room article at GalvestonHistory.info

* Gonzalez, J.R

''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...

''. January 2, 2010.
Lost Treasure: The Balinese Room (Rosenberg Library)
{{Galveston, Texas 1920 establishments in Texas 1957 disestablishments in Texas 2001 establishments in Texas 2008 disestablishments in Texas Defunct nightclubs in Texas Gulf of Mexico Hurricane Ike Landmarks in Texas History of Galveston, Texas Nightclubs in Texas Piers in Texas Restaurants in Texas Former National Register of Historic Places in Texas

History

Destruction

In popular culture

See also

References

External links